Over thousands of years, gardeners and farmers have carefully selected the best specimens of a season’s harvest (say, the sweetest or most frost-hardy carrots) and saved the seeds from those exemplary plants to sow again. Continued across generations, this process of seed saving created an astounding diversity of garden delights. One of my favorite annual flower plants is the Hopi Red Dye amaranth, a variety acquired by from the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. Amaranth is native to the Americas and is believed to have been wild harvested before being domesticated around 4,000 BC in Mexico. From there, it is said to have spread to the Southwestern United States via ancient trading routes.
Highly nutritious, amaranth has edible leaves and tiny seeds that can be popped or eaten as a grain. Known by the Hopi name komo, this red-hued variety is a key ingredient in the traditional Hopi piki bread, a crisp wafer rolled up and cooked on a thin stone slab. The red flower bracts are soaked in water overnight and mixed into cornmeal the following day to add a vibrant pink color to the dough. Also the dye in the seeds are used as a dye in their rugs and clothing.
Hopi Red Dye amaranth grows well in full sun and even drier areas. This trait may prove useful as well for regions around the world facing hotter and drier conditions due to climate change, a powerful example of the importance of traditional crops for the future.